John Henson will miss Milwaukee’s next three games with a sprained ankle

Henson will be relegated to high fives for the next three games at least. (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)

Today is a bad news day for fans of front courts that feature multiple players with incredibly long arms. Milwaukee Bucks forward John Henson will miss some time with a sprained left ankle, per the Milwaukee Bucks Public Relations department:

Henson will not accompany the team on the upcoming 3-gm trip (sprained left ankle). He will be re-evaluated when the team returns next week.

Henson played just 20 minutes against the Nets in Brooklyn on Friday and missed Milwaukee’s home game against the Minnesota Timberwolves entirely. He also missed a game December 21 against the Philadelphia 76ers with a bruised left knee. Henson’s current injury seems related, as he said it occurred against the Cleveland Cavaliers on December 20.

It’s especially disappointing that injury has felled Henson now that Larry Sanders has finally returned to Milwaukee’s active roster. The two young forward/centers have only played together just over 100 minutes in the past year and a half and most Bucks fans have been anticipating seeing the two of them finally get some extensive court time together.

Both are strong shot-blockers and good finishers with limited offensive range. Henson is a bit slimmer and less experienced and has struggled with stronger players in the post this season. The addition of Sanders was supposed to give him the chance to move back to the power forward position, where his range is something of a liability. But the defensive potential of those two seems quite strong.

Whether or not their defense can make up for a lot of potential problems offensively will apparently be a question for another day, at least a week from now.

3 Comments

I think the concerns surrounding Sanders/Henson in the front court offensively are overblown. Henson isn’t Tim Duncan by any means, but he’s held his own, and his jumper seems to have improved at least somewhat. And frankly, nobody else has reliably filled the power forward spot this season.

82games.com has Henson’s jumpshots at 27% accuracy, down from his 29% last season. He still has a way to go, not really sure if he’ll ever get there but a Henson/Sanders starting frontcourt can’t be worse than any frontcourt that includes Ersan.